The need for low calorie or no calorie sweeteners for persons for want to restrict their caloric intake and for diabetics is well established. These low calorie or no calorie sweeteners are used for weight control in cases of obesity, or for medical reasons, and for restriction of the intake of carbohydrates for diabetics in order to reduce their intake of sucrose, glucose, etc.
Artificial sweeteners or intense sweeteners, which have a sweetening intensity many times that of sucrose, such as saccharin and its salts, aspartame (chemically aspartyl phenyl alanine methyl ester), acesulfame-K (chemically acesulfame potassium), cyclamates, extracts of the plant stevia rebaudiana, known as stevioside, extracts of the African berry Thaumatococcus Danieli, known as Thaumatin, sucralose, alitame, and the like, are all characterized as not only intense in sweetening but also as providing an undesired aftertaste, which distinguish the same from the taste of sucrose. For example, saccharin has been characterized as having a bitter aftertaste. Aspartame is known to have a sweetness lag and a cloying sweet aftertaste. Cyclamates have been reported to have a metallic aftertaste. Acesulfame-K is known to have a slight metallic aftertaste.
Many compositions have been provided and efforts made to overcome the problem of the undesired aftertaste. For example, Patent No. 3,625,711, teaches the addition of potassium bitartrate and a small amount of a sugar, such as dextrose, to saccharin for the reduction of the aftertaste thereof. Patent No. 3,695,898, teaches the addition of small amounts of aspartame to mask the bitter aftertaste of saccharin. Canadian Patent No. 1,043,158, describes the use of a combination of aspartame, saccharin and cyclamate to reduce the lingering or bitter aftertaste associated with these sweeteners when used singly.
An additional problem with the intense or artificial sweeteners is that many of these sweeteners, such as aspartame, acesulfame-K, sucralose and alitame, are significantly more expensive than saccharin or cyclamates. Accordingly, although these substances are very sweet, there is a considerable incentive to enhance their sweetness intensity and thus reduce the amount thereof required for sweetening purposes.